9z clinch PGL Astana quarterfinals with 2-1 win

9z beat MOUZ 2-1 at PGL Astana on May 11, becoming the first team to secure a spot in the tournament quarterfinals. The South American side completed a 3-0 Swiss stage with prior wins over PARIVISION and Falcons.

The series opened on Nuke. 9z trailed early but regained momentum after two clutch rounds from Maximiliano ‘max’ Gonzalez. The first half ended 6-6. On the T side for 9z, max and Matias ‘HUASOPEEK’ Ibañez Hernandez led several key rounds. Dorian ‘xertioN’ Berman and Adrian ‘xelex’ Vincze handled much of MOUZ’s defensive work while Ádám ‘torzsi’ Torzsás had a quieter game. In the second half 9z produced a 4-0 run to close the map.

MOUZ won Inferno. The team built a 9-3 lead on the T side, and 9z managed only one round after the switch. Adrian ‘xelex’ Vincze posted multi-frag rounds in three of MOUZ’s four wins on the map as MOUZ finished Inferno quickly.

Ancient decided the match. MOUZ opened on the CT side and led 5-0 before 9z responded with five consecutive rounds. On a low-economy buy, xertioN collected three kills to give MOUZ a 7-5 lead at the swap. After 9z moved to CT, they took control and closed the series. MOUZ answered after timeouts on two occasions but failed to break 9z’s defense.

Individual statistics reflected the close series. For 9z, Luciano ‘luchov’ Herrera finished 49-42 with an 83.5 ADR and a 1.20 rating. Maximiliano ‘max’ Gonzalez was 37-34 with a 70.3 ADR and a 1.13 rating. Franco ‘dgt’ Garcia recorded 42-36 with an 81.0 ADR. Matias ‘HUASOPEEK’ Ibañez Hernandez went 36-38 with a 63.2 ADR and Ignacio ‘meyern’ Meyer was 31-34 with a 51.3 ADR. For MOUZ, Dorian ‘xertioN’ Berman finished 42-39 with an 82.5 ADR and a 1.24 rating, and Adrian ‘xelex’ Vincze was 40-43 with a 69.3 ADR and a 1.12 rating. Justinas ‘jL’ Lekavicius posted 35-38 with a 58.7 ADR, Lotan ‘Spinx’ Giladi was 37-40 with a 67.8 ADR, and Ádám ‘torzsi’ Torzsás finished 28-37 with a 49.5 ADR.

With the win, 9z advance to the PGL Astana knockout stage and will face one of the remaining qualified teams in the quarterfinals.